locked out

It happened at our church on the first night of children’s choir a few weeks ago.  Nothing unusual or out of the ordinary was going on – I arrived at the church with two of my children and started preparing for all of the choir activities I had planned.

My Isaac and Mackenzie were happily situated at the back of the sanctuary on a pew, playing on iPads and waiting for me while I did my thing.  I ran upstairs to make some copies and find the rhythm sticks.  Without realizing I became a bit distracted chatting with Pastor Chris – when I heard a faint holler.

It was “Moooooooooooooom!!!!” with an urgency – two little voices crying out in the distance.  I dropped what I was doing and bolted down the stairs thinking I was about to find one of my children injured. Setting foot in the back of the sanctuary – I could still hear their cries from a far – they were not sitting where they should have been.

I began opening office doors, cry room doors,  closet doors – all the time hearing their calls, but never discovering them behind those closed doors.   And then finally -I flung open the door to the outside corridor between the sanctuary and the fellowship hall.  And there they were : locked outside!

At once they began to sob:  “We thought you had left us!  We didn’t think you were coming for us!” Upon much consoling and wiping of tears, I convinced them that just wouldn’t have happened.

Their account goes like this:  they had come looking for me, stepped out into the walkway between the entrances, let one door close behind them before knowing if the other door was unlocked.  And so they found themselves – where they weren’t supposed to be.  I encouraged them to wait for me next time.

And so my story goes too.  Maybe yours too?

Often I struggle with the events of this world.  It is so broken by the effects of sin.  How can I go on?  I wander off the path distracted – looking for ways to fix this world;  maybe new government or laws, possibly stronger morals in our communities, or different politics, or new religious ideas…

The reality is, while those may be okay in some aspects, there isn’t true salvation in any of them.  When I finally remember this truth, that none of those things are are ever going to work, I come to my senses…

and it is then that I find myself desperately pleading with God Himself, “Come back!  Why have you left us here?  Have you forgotten us?  Are you ever coming back?!?”    Not unlike how my children were calling out for me…

The good news is that no matter what is happening on this globe, or where we’ve misplaced our hope for an artificial savior, He has not forgotten.  He’s not throwing open closet doors searching for us.  He’s not late or distracted.  He knows exactly what’s going on – He will come back for us at a very specific time that He has planned, just as He’s promised.

He is the only key to our hope and salvation.   His promise in John 14 is as true as it has ever been, and certainly one to cling to:

“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”